Here’s an inspiring “Think Differentiated” moment written by Fortune Magazine’s Dinah Eng on (3/19/12) focused on Maxine Clark’s brilliant Build-A-Bear brand. Maxine Clark got the idea for Build-A-Bear from a frustrated little girl. Maxine was shopping for Beanie Babies with Katie Burkhardt, the daughter of a good friend. There wasn’t anything new to buy, and Katie suggested making her own bear. “Her words gave me the idea to create a company that would allow people to create their own customized stuffed animals,” says Maxine, who at the time had left her job as president of Payless ShoeSource because “the retail world had lost its spark.”

Her vision was to create “a theme park factory in a mall,” and the adults didn’t get it. “Every parent said, Why would you want to make your own stuffed animal when you can buy it at Target?” But their kids loved the idea. Maxine didn’t conduct any focus groups, but did create a Cub Advisory Board, in which kids could offer opinions. She took $750,000 out of her retirement fund to open her first store, and secured a bank line of credit, with her home as collateral. A story in the St. Louis Business Journalattracted an investment firm. When Maxine’s first Build-A-Bear store opened in the St. Louis Galleria, “there was a line out the door.”

Originally it was “just bears and clothes,” and then came “shoes, accessories, then more animals.” Licensed products from Disney and Major League Baseball teams followed. “We hit a good nerve,” says Maxine. “At a time when everything was going high tech, high touch and hands-on was a good balance.” That was back in the late ’90s, but today Build-a-Bear “operates 425 stores” in 19 countries (almost 40% outside the US) and in 2011 had revenues of $394.4 million. “We focus on good price, convenience, and location, and we hope that when you leave, you have a smile on your face,” says Maxine. “Successful retailers — whether it’s Macy’s or Apple — do these things.”

Circle R Brands president, Susan Murphy, announced the Michigan-based branding agency has completed creating a dynamic new logo and tagline for California-based CareerArc Group, an Internet company that serves as the next generation of social recruiting solutions for job seekers, college students, employers and higher education institutions. “We were presented with specific target goals and objectives for this project,” said Murphy, “and we creatively managed to meet and exceed those expectations in record time.”

The CareerArc Group logo builds on the power of the company’s group of social networking communities. The interconnected arches illustrate the magnetic pull of bringing all these factions together along with the exponential power of piggybacking (defined as anything that operates in connection with or as part of another), as “No Man is an Island.” “Each of the arcs depicted in this icon represent a learning curve,” said Murphy, “that once mastered lends itself to the next move forward.” Finally, as CareerArc Group is an Internet-based group of career recruitment and search companies, the green arcs symbolize a go-to “community of like-minded companies based in the cloud.”

“The Social Exceleration Network™ tagline Circle R Brands created is CareerArc Group’s proprietary ‘Social Network’ taken to the nth degree,” said Murphy. “It categorically broadcasts CareerArc Group’s system-wide interactivity by way of its own unique differentiator in the form of a hybrid word that combines ‘excel’ with ‘acceleration.’ The combination of the two words suggests the advantages that result when the pursuit of excellence is merged with the speed of progress.”

The CareerArc Group logo and tagline project is another in a long line of collaborative efforts with CareerArc Group Chairman and CEO, Robin Richards. “Robin Richards is an exciting and dynamic leader with whom to work,” said Murphy. Prior to starting CareerArc Group, Mr. Richards led Blackboard Connect and served as CEO of Vivendi Universal Net USA and was founding president, CEO and director of MP3.com.

Circle R Brands and Mr. Richards first teamed up when Circle R Brands was chosen over both East and West coast creative agencies for the opportunity to create the logo for Internships.com, along with the inspired tagline: Hired Education. Internships.com recently made the news when rebel actor, Charlie Sheen, posted an ad on the website seeking an intern to help coordinate his bustling social media efforts.

Our favorite environmental scientist, Connie Morbach of CleanliNEST™ by Sanit-Air is featured in this month’s Motion Magazine published by the Legal News. The article is entitled: “An Air About Her: Expert supplies scientific answers to contamination issues.” Read more at the LegalNews.com link here: http://www.legalnews.com/motion/article.php?article_id=138.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Our favorite environmental scientist, Connie Morbach, is featured in the October issue of Women’s Health Magazine. Connie is quoted in the article, “Beat Bad Air Days” that begins on page 76. The article covers indoor air quality which our resident expert speaks fluently. Connie has the last word and her insights can be found on page 79. Read Connie’s CleanliNEST™ blog at http://cleanlinest.wordpress.com/.

Circle®Brands is thrilled to announce our client, Internships.com, the worlds largest online database service for student internships, has just created and made available their first iPhone/iPod App: Internship Seeker.

The free mobile application provides access to thousands of available internship listings. Features include search by keyword or location, detailed descriptions, save searches, share listings with friends and more. Click on the link to download the Internship Seeker app from Internships.com.

Circle®Brands is proud to announce that the tagline we created, “Your Zone Away From Home” was recently selected as the new tagline for the City of Southfield and Lathrup Village’s state-of-the-art youth center: The ‘field Zone.

The 'field Zone | Computer Tech Room

The city notes that the ‘field Zone was designed as a public center where leadership, recreation, creativity, community involvement, academics, technology,arts, and music inspire our youth. This youth center stands to become the ‘hub’ of community activity, open to middle school and high school students, who reside in or attend the City of Southfield and Lathrup Village schools.

The 'field Zone Youth "Zoned Out"

The ‘field Zone features a snack bar, internet café, game room and lounge area, music studio and practice rooms, activities room (dance, martial arts), theater, and group study rooms. A fun, safe, drug and violence free environment where teens are welcome to hang out and become involved with a variety of positive recreational choices. The center is located on the campus of Southfield Civic Center, directly below the Southfield Pavilion, close to the library, baseball diamonds, public pool, sand volleyball, tennis courts, and other recreational activities. Summer hours are Monday through Thursday 2:30 pm to 9 pm, Friday and Saturday 2:30 pm to 10 pm.

Look for our client, indoor air quality and mold expert, Connie Morbach, M.S., CHMM, CIE to be featured in the October issue of the nationally published Women’s Health Magazine. Connie speaks with Women’s Health writer Kate Bowers giving her expert views on the importance of indoor air quality: what are risks of household pollutants, what can people do to improve indoor air quality and more.

We’re excited and proud that Connie’s CleanliNEST™ Crusade is picking up national steam. We’ll all breathe easier for her efforts.

Take a moment to check out the free iPhone and iPod Workout App from Women’s Health at the link below. Nice workout tool at an even nicer price! Click on link below to be taken to iTunes to download App.

Think differentiated™

Circle®Brands is a dedicated band of brand architects passionate about creating distinct brand names, product and service names, taglines, slogans and logos. Our strength and distinction is in helping customers see a company's value in an instant, and our naming philosophy is grounded in the inherent power of familiarity and repetition (known as the science of memetics), which effectively captures the consumers' attention and communicates your company's merit and difference to create preference and purchase. We subscribe to and incorporate the highly scientific, yet universally ignored, study of “human nature” and “common sense” to create names, phrases and visual identities that elicit instant brand resonance, memorability and top-of-mind awareness with your audience.